Lyricist, poet and Bollywood’s famous Salim-Javed screenwriter duo, Javed Akhtar on Wednesday recalled their time in the Rajya Sabha and said how the Congress and the BJP in power at the Center worked together to pass the amendments. The Copyright Act of 1957 which he was supporting at that time.
Talking about his favorite memories of the city of Ghalib, he said: “My memories are of my time in the Rajya Sabha, where I tried to see how the government and the opposition united to change the laws of the country, and they did. “
Recalling those days at a book launch event in the capital, Akhtar said: “Today, we creative people are eternally grateful to all those people… On one side there were Sonia Gandhi and Kapil Sibal, and on the other, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. They all came together and passed the bill, and established a law, which is considered one of the finest copyright laws today, that benefits so many musicians, composers and writers.”
The book that Akhtar released was by industrialist Sanjeev Saraf and is titled ‘Love, Longing, Loss in Urdu Poetry’. Saraf is the founder of Rekhta Foundation, a non-profit organization working to preserve and promote Urdu language and literature. Saraf’s brainchild, Jashn-e-Rekhta, was considered the most successful revival of the tradition of public mushairas before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted Delhi’s cultural life.
Praising the book, which contains English translations of Urdu romantic poetry by Saraf, Akhtar said: “It is a work of great potential. It is not a very easy task to translate poetry. Even short in poetry.” Interested people will appreciate it too.”
On Rekhta, Akhtar said that this has given impetus to the art of ‘shayari’. “It has taken Urdu poetry to those who cannot read the script but are interested and appreciate it.”
Commenting on the title of the book, Akhtar waxed lyrical. “Love,” he said, “is to find someone without whom you feel incomplete. Only that person makes you feel complete. That is love.”